Home topics workplace recruitment-blogs Recruitment Recruitment The talent war: winning the game by changing the rules Gary Swart April 26, 2013 Australia is known for being a highly skilled economy, but – as many business owners will tell you – finding good talent isn’t easy. A recent survey of over 300 Australian businesses, commissioned by oDesk , revealed that 70% find traditional hiring methods are painful, and that talent scarcity is on par with cost as the top reasons why. The fact is, traditional hiring is highly time consuming, costly and when you’re competing for a limited amount of local talent, only a handful of businesses are going to get the talent that everyone wants. “Why is it so difficult to recruit good talent, when Australia is such a skilled economy though?” I hear you ask. There are a number of theories. One focuses on shortages in specific skills, especially in professional services sectors such as legal, accounting and IT (HAYS). However, some believe rapid business transformation is to blame because businesses require completely new skills (Towers Watson) that create unattainable or unrealistic expectations about finding the perfect full-time employee. Whatever the cause, businesses are hurting—and the problem extends far beyond the availability of high-caliber candidates. Even when great talent shows up at your door, odds are you may not recognize it; in my experience, the most exceptional interviewers are right only about 60% of the time. Then there’s the time it takes to find the best candidate, and the